You are here

About Mead

Mead is the oldest alcoholic beverage in the world, pre-dating even the cultivation of soil.* There is even a theory that the yeasts that are used today to make wines and beers evolved in naturally occurring mead. My own personal experience with mead is that it is a joy to make, and with patience and practice, imagination and intuition, some marvelous and wonderful drinks are to be had.

Mead, in the simplest definition, is "honey wine". It can be a simple, sweet, honey flavored alcoholic drink, similar in brewing requirements and impliments to beer. It can also be a complex, layered flavor drink with many elements of fine wine, with similar care and time as, though quite distinct from, fine grape wines.

My mead tends to be on the dry side of semi-sweet, which is a contrast with most of the commercial meads I've tasted: They all seem to be about as sweet as pancake syrup. While I'll admit that those have their place, and even to enjoying them when the mood is right, for me most times they are far too sweet. That isn't to say that some of my meads can't be sweet, and I may end up making a dessert-level sweet mead on occasion. The point is that mead has a very wide palette of flavors to explore: from dry to sweet, but also honeys from buckwheat to wildflower, fruits from cherries to watermellons, spices from allspice to vanilla! Such a width and bredth and depth of options to choose from! I could spend a lifetime exploring the possibilities!